Summer bream run hotRod Shepherd | First Published: December 2011

The Gellibrand River at Princetown has been solid for bream to 38cm although many fish are averaging around the 30cm mark.

The fish have been as high upstream as to where the river narrows around the ‘Kangaroobie Camp’ canoe launching spot due to spawning.

Many fish are steadily moving back down to the mouth but plenty do stay upstream until autumn when the first of the pre-winter rains eventually push them back down. The fish are responding to soft baits such as worm and shrimp and even quality frozen packet prawn.

Soft plastics that imitate worms or shrimp are working well here more so than hardbodied lures.

Some good estuary perch to 40cm have also been caught way upstream. Many fish have been taken as a by-catch by bream anglers but those few who specifically target perch have done exceptionally well when fishing from dusk onwards. Surface lures and flies are the chosen weapons. The by-catch for perch anglers has been sea run brown trout to 2.8kg.

There are still plenty of small EP’s to 28cm down below the bridge herding baitfish along the bank side reeds. Any diving lure, even blades, can net a perch or three as long as they are fished shallow and fast.

Brown trout, many on the small side can also be encountered here when targeting EP’s. The stretch of river below the Great Ocean Road Bridge is a year round sea run trout fishery. That’s a fair stretch of water in which the taking of brown trout is allowed.

At the mouth, surf anglers have scored well with gummy shark, pinkie snapper and mulloway especially on the change of tide after dark.

The best baits have been whole baby squid and chunks of eel.

Generally the offshore scene has been excellent for snapper, gummy and school shark as well as King George whiting. silver trevally, flathead and morwong are also ending up in angler’s creels.

Bottom bouncers have had the most success in 30-40m while species such as whiting have been found in depths as shallow as 3m. Best baits have been fresh squid and barracouta heads for snapper whilst pipi and mussel are the best baits for whiting.

The Curdies River is fishing well for bream to 42cm and at present the fish are scattered along the entire length of the river including the lake.

Local shrimp and greyback minnow along with blades and plastics are accounting for the majority of hook-ups.